%ittlt  $Quxnt$$ 

TO  THE  HOMES  OF  EMINENT  ORATORS 

Vol.  XII.  JUNE,  1903.  No.  6 

By  Elbert  Hubbard 

- 

Single  Copies,  25  cents             By  the  Year,  $3.00 

LITTLE  JOURNEYS 

TO     THE    HOMES     OF 

EMINENT    ORATORS 

By  ELBERT  HUBBARD 


SUBJECTS     AS     FOLLOWS 


i  Pericles 

2  Mark  Antony 

3  Savonarola 

4  Martin  Luther 

5  Edmund  Burke 

6  William  Pitt 


7  Marat 

8  Robert  Ingersoll 

9  John  Randolph 

io  Thomas  Starr  King 
ii  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
12  Wendell  Phillips 


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■^\     .Ar    .^^f^^W^^^^K 

Little  &M 
Journeys 

To  the  Homes  of 

EMINENT 
ORATORS 

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UJititten  by  Elbert 
Hubbaitd  &  done 
into  a  Book  by  the 
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East  Jluitotta,  Deio 
York,  H.  D.  1903 

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WILLIAM    PITT 


IME  was  when  slaves  were  exported  like  cattle  from 
the  British  Coast  and  exposed  for  sale  in  the  Roman 
market.  These  men  and  women  who  were  thus  sold 
were  supposed  to  be  guilty  of  witchcraft,  debt,  blas- 
phemy or  theft.  Or  else  they  were  prisoners  taken  in 
war — they  had  forfeited  their  right  to  freedom,  and  we  sold  them.  We 
said  they  were  incapable  of  self-government  and  so  must  be  looked 
after.  Later  we  quit  selling  British  slaves,  but  began  to  buy  and 
trade  in  African  humanity.  We  silenced  conscience  by  saying,  "It's 
all  right — they  are  incapable  of  self-government."  We  were  once  as 
obscure,  as  debased,  as  ignorant,  as  barbaric,  as  the  African  is  now. 
I  trust  that  the  time  will  come  when  we  are  willing  to  give  to  Africa 
the  opportunity,  the  hope,  the  right  to  attain  to  the  same  blessings 
that  we  ourselves  enjoy. 

—WILLIAM  PITT  on  Abolition  of  Slavery  in  England. 


WILLIAM     PITT 


163 


HE  Law  of  Heredity  has  been  described 
as  that  Law  of  our  nature  which  pro- 
vides that  a  man  shall  resemble  his 
grandmother — or  not,  as  the  case  may 
be.  0[  What  traits  are  inherited  and 
what  acquired — who  shall  say?  Married 
folks  who  resort  to  the  happy  expedient 
of  procuring  their  children  at  orphan 
asylums  can  testify  to  the  many  times 
they  have  been  complimented  on  the 
striking  resemblance  of  father  to  daugh- 
ter, or  son  to  mother. 
Possibly  that  is  all  there  is  of  it — we 
resemble  those  with  whom  we  associ- 
ate. Far  be  it  from  me  to  say  the  final 
word  on  this  theme — I  would  not  if  I 
could,  deprive  men  of  a  problem  they 
can  never  solve.  When  all  questions 
are  answered,  it  will  be  time  to  tele- 
phone the  undertaker. 
That  men  of  genius  do  not  reproduce 
themselves  after  the  flesh  is  an  axiom, 
but  that  William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham, 
did,  is  brought  forth  as  an  exception, 
incident,  accident  or  circumstance,  just 
according  to  one's  mood  at  the  moment. 
CT," Great  men  do  have  great  sons!"  we 
cry.  "Just  look  at  the  Pitts,  the  Adamses, 
the  Walpoles,  the  Beechers,  the  Booths, 


um 


164 


WILLIAM     PITT 


the  Bellinis,  the  Disraelis!"  and  here  we  begin  to  fal- 
ter. And  then  the  opposition  takes  it  up  and  rattles 
off  a  list  of  great  men  whose  sons  were  spendthrifts, 
gamblers,  ne'er-do-wells  and  jackanapes. 
When  Pitt  the  Younger  made  his  first  speech  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  he  struck  thirteen.  The  members 
of  the  House  were  amazed. 

"He's  not  a  chip  off  the  old  block,"  they  said. 
"  He  's  the  block  itself,"  said  Burke. 
Lord  Rosebery,  who  had  the  felicity  to  own  a  Derby 
winner,  once  said  of  Pitt,  "He  was  bred  for  speed, 
but  not  for  endurance." 


WILLIAM     PITT 


165 


INCE  the  subject  of  heredity 
always  seems  to  come  up  when 
the  Pitts  are  mentioned,  it  may 
be  proper  for  us  to  go  back  and 
trace  pedigree  a  bit,  to  see  if  we 
have  here  the  formula  for  pro- 
ducing a  genius. 

The  grandfather  of  William  Pitt 
the  Elder,  was  Thomas  Pitt,  a 
sea-captain,  trader  and  gentleman  adventurer.  In  fact, 
he  was  a  bold  buccaneer,  but  not  too  bold,  for  he  gave 
large  sums  to  church  and  charity  and  showed  his  zeal 
for  virtue  by  once  hanging  three  smugglers  in  chains, 
high  up  on  a  gibbet  overlooking  the  coast  of  Cornwall, 
and  there  the  bodies  were  left  until  the  birds  of  prey 
and  the  elements  had  bleached  their  bones. 
Thomas  Pitt  was  known  as  "Diamond  Tom"  through 
bringing  from  India  and  selling  to  the  Regent  Orleans 
the  largest  diamond,  I  believe,  ever  owned  in  Eng- 
land. For  this  Diamond  Tom  received  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  thousand  pounds — a  sum  equal  to  one 
million  dollars.  That  Diamond  Tom  received  this 
money  there  is  no  doubt,  but  where  and  how  he  got 
the  diamond  nobody  seems  to  know,  and  in  his  own 
time  it  was  deemed  indelicate  to  inquire. 
Tom  might  have  wasted  that  money  right  shortly — 
there  are  several  ways  of  dissipating  a  fortune — but 
he  wisely  decided  to  found  a  house.  That  is  to  say  he 
bought  a   borough — the  borough  of  Old   Sarum,  the 


166 WILLIAM     PITT 

locality  that  was  to  become  famous  as  the  "rotten 
borough"  of  the  Reform  Bill. 

He  bought  this  borough  and  all  the  tenants  outright 
from  the  Government,  just  as  we  bought  the  Filipinos 
at  two  dollars  per  head.  All  the  people  who  lived  in 
the  borough  had  to  pay  tribute,  taxes  or  rent  to  Tom, 
for  Tom  owned  the  tenures.  They  had  to  pay,  hike  or 
have  their  heads  cut  off.  Most  of  them  paid. 
If  the  time  were  at  our  disposal  it  might  be  worth 
while  to  let  this  brochure  extend  itself  into  a  picture 
of  how  all  the  land  in  England  once  belonged  to  the 
Crown,  and  how  this  land  was  transferred  at  will  to 
Thomas,  Richard  and  Henry  for  cash  or  as  reward 
for  services  rendered.  It  was  much  the  same  in 
America — the  Government  once  owned  all  the  land, 
and  then  this  land  was  sold,  given  out  to  soldiers,  or 
to  homesteaders  who  would  clear  the  land  of  trees, 
and  later  we  reversed  the  proposition  and  gave  the 
land  to  those  who  would  plant  trees. 
There  was  this  similarity,  too,  between  English  and 
American  land  laws:  the  Indians  on  the  land  in 
America  had  to  pay,  move  or  be  perforated.  For  them 
to  pay  rent  or  work  out  a  road  tax,  was  quite  out  of 
the  question.  Indians,  like  the  Irish,  will  not  pay  rent, 
so  we  were  compelled  to  evict  them. 
But  there  was  this  difference  in  America:  the  owner 
of  the  land  could  sell  it;  in  England  he  could  not.  The 
law  of  entail  has  been  much  modified,  but  as  a  general 
proposition  the  land  owner  in  England  has  the  privi- 


WILLIAM     PITT 167 

lege  of  collecting  the  rent,  and  warning  off  poachers, 
but  he  cannot  mortgage  the  land  and  eat  it  up.  This 
keeps  the  big  estates  intact,  and  is  a  very  good  scheme. 
Under  a  similar  law  in  the  United  States,  Uncle  Billy 
Bushnell  or  Ali  Baba  might  live  in  Hot  Springs,  Ar- 
kansas, and  own  every  foot  of  East  Aurora,  and  all  of 
us  would  then  vote  as  Baron  Bushnell  or  Sir  Ali  dic- 
tated, thus  avoiding  much  personal  animus  at  Town 
Meetin'  time. 

But  no  tenure  can  be  made  with  death — he  can  neither 
be  bought,  bribed,  cajoled  nor  intimidated.  Diamond 
Tom  died  and  his  eldest  son  Robert  came  into  pos- 
session of  the  estate. 

Now  Robert  was  commonplace  and  beautifully  medi- 
ocre. It  is  one  of  Nature's  little  ironies  at  the  expense 
of  the  Law  of  Entail,  that  she  will  occasionally  send 
out  of  the  spirit  realm,  into  a  place  of  worldly  im- 
portance, a  man  who  is  a  regular  chibot,  chitterling 
and  chump.  Robert  Pitt,  son  of  Diamond  Tom,  es- 
caped all  censure  and  unkind  criticism  by  doing  noth- 
ing, saying  nothing  and  being  nothing. 
But  he  proved  procreant  and  reared  a  goodly  brood 
of  sons  and  daughters — all  much  like  himself,  save 
one,  the  youngest  son. 

This  son,  by  name  William  Pitt,  very  much  re- 
sembled Diamond  Tom,  his  illustrious  grandfather — 
Nature  bred  back.  William  was  strong  in  body,  firm 
in  will,  active,  alert,  intelligent.  Times  had  changed 
or  he  might  have  been  a  bold  buccaneer,  too.  He  was 


i68 WILLIAM     PITT 

all  his  grandfather  was,  only  sand-papered,  buffed 
and  polished  by  civilization. 

He  was  sent  to  Eton,  and  then  to  Trinity  College, 
Oxford,  where  buccaneer  instincts  broke  out  and  he 
left  without  a  degree.  Two  careers  were  open  to  him, 
as  to  all  aspiring  sons  of  Noble  Beef-eaters — he  could 
enter  the  Church  or  the  Army. 

He  chose  the  Army,  and  became  in  due  course  the 
first  cornet  of  his  company. 

His  elder  brother  Thomas  was  very  naturally  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Commons  for  Old  Sarum,  and 
later  sat  for  Oakhampton.  Another  of  Nature's  little 
ironies  here  outcrops:  Thomas,  who  was  named  for 
his  illustrious  grandfather — he  of  the  crystallized  car- 
bon— didn't  resemble  his  grandfather  nearly  so  much 
as  did  his  younger  brother  "William.  So  Thomas  with 
surprising  good  sense  named  his  brother  for  a  seat  in 
the  House  of  Commons  from  Old  Sarum. 
William  was  but  twenty-seven  years  of  age  when  he 
began  his  official  career,  but  he  seemed  one  who  had 
leaped  into  life  full  armed.  He  absorbed  knowledge 
on  every  hand.  Demosthenes  was  his  idol,  and  he; 
too,  declaimed  by  the  sea-shore  with  his  mouth  full 
of  pebbles.  His  splendid  command  of  language  was 
acquired  by  the  practice  of  translation  and  re-trans- 
lation. Whether  Greek  or  Latin  ever  helped  any  man 
to  become  a  better  thinker  is  a  mooted  question,  but 
the  practice  of  talking  off  in  your  own  tongue  a  page 
of  a  foreign  language  is  a  mighty  good  way  to  lubri- 


WILLIAM     PITT 169 

cate  your  English.  QWilliam  Pitt  had  all  the  graces 
of  a  great  orator — he  was  deliberate,  self-possessed, 
positive.  In  form  he  was  rather  small,  but  he  had  a 
way  of  carrying  himself  that  gave  an  impression  of 
size.  He  ■was  one  of  the  world's  big  little  men — the 
type  of  Aaron  Burr,  Alexander  Hamilton,  Benjamin 
Harrison  and  John  D.  Long.  In  the  House  of  Com- 
mons he  lost  no  time  in  making  his  presence  felt.  He 
was  assertive,  theatrical,  declamatory— still,  he  usu- 
ally knew  what  he  was  talking  about. \His  criticisms 
of  the  Government  so  exasperated  Sir  Robert  Wal- 
pole  that  Walpole  used  to  refer  to  him  as  "that  ter- 
rible cornet  of  horse."  Finally  Walpole  had  him 
dismissed  from  the  Army.  This  instead  of  silencing 
the  young  man  really  made  matters  worse,  and 
George  II.,  who  patronized  the  Opposition  when  he 
could  not  down  it,  made  him  groom  of  the  bed  cham- 
ber to  the  Prince  of  Wales.  This  was  an  office  lined 
with  adipose,  with  no  work  to  speak  of. 
The  feeling  is  that  Pitt  revealed  his  common  clay  by 
accepting  the  favor.  He  was  large  enough  to  get  along 
without  such  things. 

In  most  of  the  good  old  "School  Speakers"  was  an 
extract  from  a  speech  supposed  to  have  been  delivered 
by  Pitt  on  the  occasion  of  his  being  taunted  by  Horatio 
Walpole  on  account  of  his  youth.  Pitt  replied  in  lan- 
guage something  like  this  :  "  It  is  true  that  I  am  young, 
yet  I  '11  get  over  that;  but  the  man  who  is  a  fool  will 
probably  remain  one  all  his  days." 


i7o WILLIAM     PITT 

The  speech  was  reported  by  a  lout  of  a  countryman, 
Samuel  Johnson  by  name,  who  had  come  up  to  Lon- 
don to  make  his  fortune,  and  found  his  first  work  in 
reporting  speeches  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Pitt  did 
not  write  out  his  speeches  for  the  press,  weeks  in  ad- 
vance, according  to  latter  day  methods;  the  man  who 
reported  them  had  to  have  a  style  of  his  own — and 
certainly  Johnson  had.  Pitt  was  much  pleased  with 
Johnson's  reports  of  his  speeches,  but  on  one  occasion 
mildly  said,  "Ah,  Mr.  Johnson — you  know — I  do  not 
exactly  remember  using  that  expression!  " 
And  Samuel  Johnson  said,  "  Sir,  it  is  barely  possible 
that  you  did  not  use  the  language  as  I  have  written  it 
out;  but  you  should."  Just  how  much  Johnson  we  get 
in  Pitt's  printed  speeches  is  still  a  topic  for  debate. 
QPitt  could  think  on  his  feet,  while  Samuel  Johnson 
never  made  but  one  speech  and  broke  down  in  that. 
But  Johnson  could  write,  and  the  best  of  Pitt's 
speeches  are  those  reported  by  Ursa  Major  in  a  style 
superbly  Johnsonese.  The  member  from  Old  Sarum 
once  sent  Johnson  two  butts  of  Canary  and  a  barrel  of 
white-bait,  as  a  token  of  appreciation  for  his  skill  in 
accurate  reporting. 

Pitt  followed  the  usual  course  of  successful  reformers, 
and  in  due  time  lined  up  on  the  side  of  the  conserva- 
tives, and  gradually  succumbed  to  a  strictly  aristo- 
cratic disease,  gout.  "Whether  genius  is  transmissible 
or  not  is  a  question,  but  all  authorities  agree  as  to  gout. 
Q  Pitt's  opposition  to  the  Walpoles  was  so  very  firmly 


WILLIAM     PITT 171 

rooted  that  it  continued  for  life,  and  for  this  he  was 
rewarded  by  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough  with  a 
legacy  of  ten  thousand  pounds.  Her  Grace  was  the 
mother  of  the  lady  who  had  the  felicity  to  have  her 
picture  painted  by  Gainsborough,  which  picture  was 
brought  to  America  and  secreted  here  for  many  years 
and  finally  was  purchased  for  sixty-five  thousand 
dollars  by  Pierpont  Morgan,  through  the  kind  offices 
of  my  friend  Patricius  Sheedy,  Philistine-at-Large. 
QThe  Duchess  in  her  will  said  she  gave  the  money  to 
Pitt  as  "an  acknowledgment  of  the  noble  defense  he 
had  made  for  the  support  of  the  laws  of  England." 
But  the  belief  is  that  it  was  her  hatred  for  Walpole 
that  prompted  her  admiration  for  Pitt.  And  her  de- 
testation of  Walpole  was  not  so  much  political  as 
sentimental — a  woman's  love  affairs  being  much  more 
to  her  than  patriotism,  but  the  Duchess  being  a 
woman  deceived  herself  as  to  reasons.  Our  acts  are 
right,  but  our  reasons  seldom  are.  I  leave  this  Marl- 
borough matter  with  those  who  are  interested  in  the 
psychology  of  the  heart — merely  calling  attention  to 
the  fact  that  although  the  Duchess  was  ninety  when 
she  passed  out,  the  warm  experiences  of  her  early 
womanhood  were  very  vivid  in  her  memory.  If  you 
wish  to  know  when  love  dies  out  of  a  woman's  brain, 
you  will  have  to  ask  someone  who  is  older  than  was 
the  Duchess  of  Marlborough. 

When  George  II.  died,  and  his  grandson  George  III. 
came  into  power,  Pitt  resigned  his  office  in  the  cabinet 


i72 WILLIAM     PITT 

and  abandoned  politics.  QAt  last  he  found  time  to  get 
married.  He  was  then  forty-six  years  of  age. 
Men  retire  from  active  life,  but  seldom  remain  upon 
the  shelf, — either  life  or  death  takes  them  down.  In 
five  years  time  we  find  the  King  offering  Pitt  anything 
in  sight,  and  Mr.  Pitt,  the  Great  Commoner,  became 
Viscount  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham. 

By  this  move  Pitt  lost  in  popularity  more  than  he  had 
gained  in  dignity — there  was  a  complete  revulsion  of 
feeling  toward  him  by  the  people,  and  he  never  again 
attained  the  influence  and  power  he  had  once  known. 
CT, Burke  once  referred  to  a  certain  proposed  bill  as 
"insignificant,  irrelevant,  pompous,  creeping,  explan- 
atory and  ambiguous  —  done  in  the  true  Chathamic 
style."  jf  & 

But  the  disdain  of  Burke  was  really  complimentary — 
it  took  a  worthy  foe  to  draw  his  fire.  Chatham's  faults 
were  mostly  on  the  surface,  and  were  more  a  matter 
of  manner  than  of  head  or  heart.  America  has  cause 
to  treasure  the  memory  of  Chatham.  He  opposed  the 
Stamp  Act  with  all  the  vigor  of  his  tremendous  intel- 
lect, and  in  the  last  speech  of  his  life  he  prophesied 
that  the  Americans  would  never  submit  to  taxation 
without  representation,  and  that  all  the  power  of 
England  was  not  great  enough  to  subdue  men  who 
were  fighting  for  their  country.  Yet  his  appeal  to 
George  III.  and  his  minions  was  like  bombarding  a 
fog.  But  all  he  said  proved  true. 
On  the  occasion  of  this  last  great  speech   Chatham 


WILLIAM     PITT 


173 


was  attended  by  his  favorite  son  William,  then  nine- 
teen years  old.  Proud  as  was  this  father  of  his  son,  he 
did  not  guess  that  in  four  short  years  this  boy  would, 
through  his  brilliancy,  cast  his  own  splendid  efforts 
into  the  shadow;  and  that  Burke,  the  querulous, 
would  give  the  son  a  measure  of  approbation  never 
vouchsafed  to  the  father. 

William  Pitt,  the  younger,  is  known  as  the  "Great 
Pitt,"  to  distinguish  him  from  his  father,  who  in  his 
day   was   known   as   the   greatest   man   in    England. 


174 


WILLIAM     PITT 


ILLIAM  PITT,  the  second  son 
of  the  Earl  of  Chatham,  was  born 
of  poor  but  honest  parents,  in  the 
year  1759.  That  was  the  year  that 
gave  us  Robert  Burns — between 
whom  and  Pitt,  in  some  respects, 
averages  were  held  good.  The 
same  year  was  born  William 
Wilberforce,  philanthropist  and 
emancipator,  father  of  Canon  Wilberforce. 
At  this  time  the  fortunes  of  William  Pitt  the  elder 
were  at  full  flood.  England  was  in  a  fever  of  exulta- 
tion— drunk  with  success.  Just  where  the  thought  got 
abroad  that  the  average  Englishman  is  moderate  in 
success  and  in  defeat  not  cast  down,  I  do  not  know. 
But  this  I  have  seen:  All  London  mad,  howling,  ex- 
ultant, savage  drunk,  because  of  the  report  that  the 
Red  Coats  had  subjugated  this  colony  or  that.  To  sub- 
due, crush,  slay  and  defeat,  has  caused  shrieking 
shouts  of  joy  in  London  since  London  began — unless 
the  slain  were  Englishmen. 

This  is  patriotism,  concerning  which  Samuel  Johnson, 
reporter  in  the  House  of  Commons,  once  made  a  re- 
mark slightly  touched  with  acerbity. 
In  the  years  1758  to  1759  not  a  month  passed  but  bon- 
fires burned  bright  from  Cornwall  to  Scotland  in 
honor  of  English  victories  on  land  and  sea.  In  West- 
phalia, British  Infantry  defeated  the  armies  of  Louis 
XV.;  Boscawen  had  sunk  a  French  fleet;  Hawke  put 


WILLIAM     PITT 175 

to  flight  another;  Amherst  took  Ticonderoga;  Clive  de- 
stroyed a  Dutch  armament;  Wolfe  achieved  victory 
and  a  glorious  death  at  Quebec.  English  arms  had 
marched  triumphant  through  India  and  secured  for 
the  tight  little  island  an  empire,  while  another  had 
been  gained  on  the  shores  of  Ontario. 
For  all  this  the  Great  Commoner  received  most  of 
the  glory;  and  that  this  tremendous  popularity  was 
too  great  to  last  is  but  a  truism. 

But  in  such  a  year  it  was  that  "William  Pitt  was^ 
born.  His  father  was  fifty  years  old,  his  mother  about 
thirty.  This  mother  was  a  woman  of  rare  grace,  in- 
tellect and  beauty,  the  only  sister  of  two  remarkable 
brothers — George  Grenville,  the  obstinate  adviser  of 
George  III.,  the  man  who  did  the  most  to  make 
America  free — unintentionally — and  the  other  brother 
was  Richard  Earl  Temple,  almost  equally  potent  for 
right  or  wrong. 

That  the  child  of  a  sensitive  mother,  born  amid  such 
a  crash  of  excitement,  should  be  feeble  was  to  be  ex- 
pected. No  one  at  first  expected  the  baby  to  survive. 
<T,But  tenderness  and  care  brought  him  through,  and 
he  grew  into  a  tall,  spindling  boy  whose  intellect  far 
outmatched  his  body.  He  was  too  weak  to  be  sent  to 
take  his  place  at  a  common  school,  and  so  his  father 
and  mother  taught  him. 

Between  the  father  and  son  there  grew  up  a  fine  bond 
of  affection.  Whenever  the  father  made  a  public  ad- 
dress the  boy  was  there  to  admire  and  applaud. 


176 WILLIAM     PITT 

The  father's  declining  fortunes  drove  him  back  to  his 
family  for  repose,  and  all  of  his  own  ambitions  became 
centered  in  his  son.  With  a  younger  man  this  might 
not  have  been  the  case,  but  the  baby  boy  of  an  old 
man  means  much  more  to  him  than  a  brood  coming 
early  <ff  if 

Daily,  this  boy  of  twelve  or  fourteen,  would  go  to  his 
father's  study  to  recite.  Oratory  was  his  aim,  and  the 
intent  was  that  he  should  become  the  greatest  parlia- 
mentarian of  his  time. 

This  little  mutual  admiration  society  composed  of 
father  and  son,  speaks  volumes  for  both.  Boys  reach- 
ing out  toward  manhood,  when  they  are  neither  men 
nor  boys,  often  have  little  respect  for  their  fathers — 
they  consider  the  pater  to  be  both  old-fashioned  and 
tyrannical.  And  the  father,  expecting  too  much  of  the 
son,  often  fails  in  faith  and  patience;  but  there  was  no 
such  failure  here.  Chatham  personally  superintended 
the  matter  of  off-hand  translation,  and  this  practice 
was  kept  up  daily  from  the  time  the  boy  was  eight 
years  old,  until  he  was  nineteen,  when  his  father  died. 
QThen  there  was  the  tutor  Pretyman  who  must  not  be 
left  out.  He  was  a  combination  valet  and  teacher,  and 
the  most  pedantic  and  idolatrous  person  that  ever 
moused  through  dusty  tomes.  With  a  trifle  more  adi- 
pose and  a  little  less  intellect,  he  would  have  made  a 
most  successful  and  awful  butler.  He  seemed  a  type 
of  the  English  waiter  who  by  some  chance  had  ac- 
quired a  college  education,  and  never  said  a  wrong 


WILLIAM     PITT 177 

thing  nor  did  a  right  one  during  his  whole  life. 
<J  Pretyman  wrote  a  life  of  Pitt,  and  according  to 
Macaulay  it  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  the  worst 
biography  ever  written.  Lord  Rosebery,  however, 
declares  the  book  is  not  so  bad  as  it  might  be.  I  be- 
lieve there  are  two  other  biographies  equally  stupid — 
"Weems'  Life  of  Washington"  and  the  book  on 
Gainsborough  by  Thicknesse.  Weems'  book  was 
written  to  elevate  his  man  into  a  demi-god;  Thick- 
nesse was  intent  on  lowering  his  subject  and  exalting 
himself;  while  Pretyman  extols  himself  and  his  sub- 
ject equally,  revealing  how  William  Pitt  could  never 
have  been  William  Pitt  were  it  not  for  his  tutor. 
Pretyman  emphasizes  trifles,  slights  important  mat- 
ters, and  waxes  learned  concerning  the  irrelevant. 
CT,  A  legacy  coming  to  Pretyman,  he  changed  his  name 
to  Tomline,  as  women  change  their  names  when  they 
marry  or  enter  a  convent. 

Religion  to  Pitt  was  quite  a  perfunctory  affair,  neces- 
sary, of  course ;  but  a  bishop  in  England  was  one  who 
could  do  little  good  and,  fortunately,  not  much  harm. 
With  an  irony  too  subtle  to  be  seen  by  but  very  few, 
Pitt  when  twenty-seven  years  of  age  made  his  old 
tutor  Bishop  of  Winchester.  Tomline  proved  an  ex- 
cellent and  praiseworthy  bishop;  and  his  obsequious 
loyalty  to  Pitt  led  to  the  promise  that  if  the  Primacy 
should  become  vacant,  Tomline  was  to  be  made 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
This  promise  was  told  by  the  unthinking  Tomline, 


178 WILLIAM     PITT 

and  reached  the  ears  of  George  III.,  a  man  who  at 
times  was  very  much  alert. 

There  came  a  day  when  the  Primacy  was  vacant,  and 
to  head  off  the  nomination  by  Pitt,  the  King  one 
morning  at  eight  o'clock  -walked  over  to  the  residence 
of  Bishop  Manners  Somers  and  plied  the  knocker. 
CT,The  servant  who  answered  the  summons  explained 
that  the  Bishop  was  taking  his  bath  and  could  not  be 
seen  until  he  had  had  breakfast. 
But  the  visitor  was  importunate. 

The  servant  went  back  to  his  master  and  explained 
that  the  stout  man  at  the  door  would  neither  go  away 
nor  tell  his  name,  but  must  see  his  lordship  at  once. 
C[When  the  Bishop  appeared  in  his  dressing-gown 
and  saw  the  King,  he  nearly  had  apoplexy.  But  the 
King  quickly  told  his  errand  and  made  his  friend 
Primate  on  the  doorstep,  with  the  butler  and  house- 
maid for  witnesses. 

Later  in  the  day  when  Pitt  appeared  at  the  palace  he 
was  told  that  a  Primate  had  been  appointed — the  King 
was  very  sorry,  but  the  present  incumbent  could  not 
be  removed  unless  charges  were  preferred.  Pitt  smil- 
ingly congratulated  the  King  on  the  wisdom  of  his 
choice,  but  afterward  referred  to  the  transaction  as 
"a  rather  scurvy  trick." 

At  twenty-three  years  of  age  William  Pitt  entered 
the  House  of  Commons  from  the  same  borough  that 
his  father  had  represented  at  twenty-seven.  His  elder 
brother  made  way  just  as  had  the  elder  brother  of  his 


WILLIAM     PITT 179 

father.  CT,The  first  speech  he  made  in  Parliament  fixed 
his  place  in  that  body.  His  fame  had  preceded  him, 
and  when  he  arose  every  seat  was  taken  to  hear  the 
favorite  son  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham,  the  greatest  ora- 
tor England  had  ever  seen. 

The  subject  was  simply  a  plan  of  finance,  and  lacked 
all  excuse  for  fine  phrasing  or  flavor  of  sentiment. 
And  what  should  a  boy  of  twenty-three  know  about  a 
nation's  financial  policy? 

Yet  this  boy  knew  all  about  it.  Figures,  statistics,  re- 
sults, conclusions,  were  shown  in  a  steady,  flowing, 
accurate,  lucid  manner.  The  young  man  knew  his 
theme — every  byway,  highway  and  tracing  of  it.  By 
that  speech  he  proved  his  mathematical  genius,  and 
blazed  the  way  straight  to  the  office  of  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer. 

Not  only  did  he  know  his  theme,  but  he  had  the  abil- 
ity to  explain  it.  He  spoke  without  hesitation  or  em- 
barrassment, and  revealed  the  same  splendid  dignity 
that  his  father  had  shown,  all  flavored  by  the  same 
dash  of  indifference  for  the  auditor.  But  the  discern- 
ing ones  saw  that  he  surpassed  his  father,  in  that  he 
carried  more  reserve  and  showed  a  suavity  that  was 
not  the  habit  of  Chatham. 

And  the  man  was  there — mighty  and  self-reliant.       I 
The  voice  is  the  index  of  the  soul.  The  voice  of  the 
two  Pitts  was  the  same  voice,  we  have  been  told — a 
deep,  rich,  cultivated  lyric-baritone.  It  was  a  trained 
voice,  a  voice  that  came  from  a  full  column  of  air, 


i8o WILLIAM     PITT 

that  never  broke  into  a  screech,  rasping  the  throat  of 
the  speaker  and  the  ear  of  the  listener.  It  was  the 
natural  voice  carefully  developed  by  right  use.  The 
power  of  Pitt  lay  in  his  cold,  calculating  intellect,  but 
the  instrument  that  made  manifest  this  intellect  was 
his  deep,  resonant,  perfectly  controlled  voice. 
Pitt  never  married,  and  according  to  the  biting  phrase 
of  Fox,  all  he  knew  of  love  was  a  description  of  it  he 
got  from  the  Iliad.  That  is  to  say  he  was  separated 
from  it  about  three  thousand  years.  This  is  a  trifle  too 
severe,  for  when  twenty-two  years  of  age  he  met  the 
daughter  of  Necker  at  Paris — she  who  was  to  give 
the  world  of  society  a  thrill  as  Madam  de  Stael.  And 
if  the  gossips  are  right  it  was  not  the  fault  of  Pitt 
that  a  love  match  did  not  follow.  But  the  v/oman 
gauged  the  man,  and  she  saw  that  love  to  him  would 
merely  be  an  incident,  not  a  consuming  passion,  and 
she  was  not  the  woman  to  write  a  book  on  Farthest 
North.  She  dallied  with  the  young  man  a  day,  and 
then  sent  him  about  his  business,  exasperated  and 
perplexed.  He  could  strike  fire  with  men  as  flint 
strikes  on  flint,  but  women  were  outside  his  realm. 
C£Yet  he  followed  the  career  of  Madam  de  Stael,  and 
never  managed  to  quite  get  her  out  of  his  life.  Once 
in  his  later  years  he  referred  to  her  as  that  "cold  and 
trifling  daughter  of  France's  greatest  financier."  He 
admired  the  father  more  than  he  loved  the  daughter. 
fiFor  twenty-four  years  Pitt  piloted  England's  ship 
of  state.  There  were  constant  head  winds,  and  now 


WILLIAM     PITT 181 

and  again  shifting  gales  of  fierce  opposition,  and  all 
the  time  a  fat  captain  to  pacify  and  appease.  This 
captain  was  stupid,  sly,  obstinate  and  insane  by  turns, 
and  to  run  the  ship  and  still  allow  the  captain  to  be- 
lieve that  he  was  in  command,  was  the  problem  that 
confronted  Pitt.  And  that  he  succeeded  as  well  as  any 
living  man  could,  there  is  no  doubt. 
During  the  reign  of  Pitt,  England  lost  the  American 
Colonies.  This  was  not  a  defeat  for  England,  it  was 
Destiny.  England  preserved  her  independence  by 
cutting  the  cable  that  bound  her  to  us. 
The  life  of  Pitt  was  a  search  for  power — to  love, 
wealth  and  fame  he  was  indifferent. 
He  was  able  to  successfully  manage  the  finances  of  a 
nation,  but  his  own  were  left  in  a  sorry  muddle — at 
his  death  it  took  forty  thousand  pounds  to  cause  him 
to  be  worth  nothing.  His  debts  were  paid  by  the 
nation.  And  this  indifference  to  his  own  affairs  was 
put  forth  at  the  time  as  proof  of  his  probity  and  ex- 
cellence. We  think  now  that  it  marked  his  limita- 
tions. His  income  for  twenty  years  preceding  his 
death  was  about  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year.  One 
hour  a  day  in  auditing  accounts  with  his  butler  would 
have  made  all  secure.  He  had  neither  wife,  child  nor 
dependent  kinsmen,  yet  it  was  found  that  his  house- 
hold consumed  nine  hundred  pounds  of  meat  per  week 
and  enough  beer  to  float  a  ship.  For  a  man  to  waste 
his  own  funds  in  riotous  living  is  only  a  trifle  worse 
than  to  allow  others  to  do  the  same. 


182 


WILLIAM     PITT 


Literature,  music  and  art  owe  little  to  Pitt — only 
lovers  care  for  beauty — the  sensuous  was  not  for  him. 
He  knew  the  classics,  spoke  French  like  a  Parisian, 
reveled  in  history,  had  no  confidantes,  and  loved  one 
friend — Wilberforce. 

Pictures  of  Pitt  by  Reynolds  and  Gainsborough  reveal 
a  face  commonplace  in  feature  save  for  the  eye — "the 
most  brilliant  eye  ever  seen  in  a  human  face."  In  de- 
scribing the  man,  one  word  always  seems  to  creep  in, 
the  word  "haughty."  That  the  man  was  gentle,  kind 
and  even  playful  among  the  few  who  knew  him  best, 
there  is  no  doubt.  The  austerity  of  his  manner  was 
the  inevitable  result  of  an  ambition  the  sole  aim  of 
which  was  to  dictate  the  policy  of  a  great  nation.  All 
save  honor  was  sacrificed  to  this  end,  and  that  the  man 
was  successful  in  his  ambition,  there  is  no  dispute. 
QWnen  he  died,  aged  forty-seven,  he  was  by  popular 
acclaim  the  greatest  Englishman  of  his  time,  and  the 
passing  years  have  not  shaken  that  proud  position. 


SO  HERE  ENDETH  THE  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  THE  HOME 
OF  WILLIAM  PITT:  WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT  HUBBARD. 
THE  TITLE  PAGE,  INITIALS  &  ORNAMENTS  DESIGNED 
BY  SAMUEL  WARNER,  PRESSWORK  BY  LOUIS  SCHELL, 
&  THE  WHOLE  DONE  INTO  A  BOOK  BY  THE  ROYCROFT- 
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w 


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do.  We  can  make  you  most  anything  in  the  way 

of  an  artistic  ypizcz  of  JFurniture,  and  will  be 

glad  to  submit  a  sketch  if  you  will  let  us  know 
what  you  wish.  You  may  find  it  in  our  catalog. 
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